Michael Kiparsky in the news:

Mike Kiparsky … said that recently, there’s been “an explosion of interest” in adaptation strategies. “It’s an issue the state is going to have to grapple with in the near term” and in the longer term.

“It’s very easy to say, rhetorically, that there haven’t been any instances of water contamination documented in the state, so what’s there to worry about,” says environmental scientist Michael Kiparsky…. Moreover, Kiparsky says, it could take decades or longer before contamination migrates far enough to be detected. “The problem then becomes similar to Superfund sites, where the activity that caused the pollution didn’t come to light as hazardous until later, and often until the perpetrator was long gone.”

“By farming this tremendous annual crop of Kentucky bluegrass, we contribute to the annual amount of water that needs to be supplied,” notes Michael Kiparsky…. It’s estimated that half of residential water in the state is used outdoors.

Michael Kiparsky quoted in San Jose Mercury News, December 27, 2013
According to Michael Kiparsky … fracking puts water supplies at risk, especially when developers drill through aquifers en route to gas reserves in shale. Frack water is so contaminated, water cannot be recovered, and the chemicals are left in the ground.

Every time it rains, San Francisco Bay gets a little sicker. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Asphalt streets collect pollutants from motor oil to metals from brake pads to nutrients from garden fertilizers. Rains quickly wash it all into storm drains, local streams and the bay. When combined with decades of industrial pollution, storm-water runoff damages marine life and kills fish, leaving those that survive too toxic to eat. We cannot completely repair the bay’s ecology, but we can improve its health and ours by changing the way we build city streets.

Kiparsky says there would have to be a huge increase in fracking before it registers as a significant part of the state’s overall water use. “That said, all water is local,” he adds. “The impacts on local water sources could be an issue. We just don’t know at this point.”

A recent article he coauthored with Berkeley Law colleague Jayni Foley Hein states: “Fracturing ‘flowback’ … and ‘produced water’ (all waste-water that emerges from the well after production begins) contain potentially harmful chemicals, some of which are known carcinogens. Produced water is also highly saline and potentially harmful to humans, aquatic life, and ecosystems.”

“When a hole is drilled, it creates a conduit through which oil, gas, and fracking fluids could move upwards,” Kiparsky says. “If there was a casing failure, that movement into the bottom of the aquifer could happen within hours or days, but wouldn’t necessarily be expressed at the surface, or be visible, for decades or centuries.”… Kiparsky warns of the risks of irreversible contamination of surface and groundwater near wells, unless the method is carefully monitored and controlled.

The article, entitled “The Innovation Deficit in Urban Water,” contends that for new innovations to be implemented successfully, engineers must understand the social, economic, institutional, and political mechanisms that underlie the human-technology interface.

Kiparsky is particularly worried over what is still to come in California. “Since we don’t yet understand the existing risks, we certainly don’t understand the risks of technologies that have not yet been used.”

“There is tremendous (scientific) uncertainty,” said Michael Kiparsky … co-author of a recent report that found gaping holes in California’s regulation of fracking. “California has historically been a leader in the governance of environmental issues” –but not fracking, Kiparsky said. “There is the opportunity to learn from other states … and try not to repeat their learning experiences.”

“Once fracking has been conducted, its effects may be impossible to reverse,” Kiparsky said, adding that “the science remains uncertain, particularly in the face of technology that is rapidly evolving.”

Jayni Foley Hein … added that the regulations put forward in DOGGR’s discussion draft are currently not as robust as those found in other states. She said improvements are needed to the public notice process pertaining to fracking operations, as well as disclosure about “trade-secret” fracking chemicals.

New fracturing techniques combined with demand for oil have led to alarming projections of dramatically increased fracking activity in California. Such developments may have outstripped the ability of responsible government agencies to effectively oversee fracking activity and its attendant impacts on our land, air and water resources.

“Our report focused on risks to water. The key risks are for contaminations of underground sources of drinking water, which occurs—or which might occur—because many oil wells drill directly through aquifers on their way to the oil or gas reserves below. Another risk is from surface spills and from operations near the rigs on the surface.”

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